When considering content for today, we were reviewing some of the feedback we get and found an interesting complaint concerning the new Gen V Camaro, “It should look more like the ’80’s Camaros.” Really? Do people look back at mid-1980’s styling with a great deal of nostalgia? We know we sure don’t. But hey, we’re us, not you. But as a reminder of what a Camaro based off of 1980’s styling looks like, we present you the 1993 Camaro.

Chevrolet, for the first time in 10 years, started the Camaro with a clean sheet of paper. Well, not entirely. The new Gen IV Camaro got the LT1 V8 and 6-speed transmission for the first time. The chassis was new. The look though, was very familiar. Also sleek and sporty-looking, the new Camaro was lauded for being a little too close to the previous model. But drastically smoothing out the previous decade’s models was par for the Chevrolet course; remember the ’97 Corvette?

But Chevrolet had a right to feel good about themselves. The new engine and tranny combo was a hit, the fourth generation Camaro was a hit with both traditional Camaro lovers and newcomers, and gave plenty of competition to its cross-town rival, the Mustang. Chevrolet was so excited about their new Camaro that they produced this quirky advertisement correlating the creation of rock n’ roll with the birth of the muscle car.

On the other side of the coin, even with the introduction of the LS1 V8 to the platform in 1998, the Camaro’s bright future was quickly dimming. Why? Politics. Amid all of the boilerplate and carefully worded press releases, GM wanted desperately out of its contract with the autoworkers’ union manning the Canadian plant were both the Firebird and Camaro were produced. To do this without voiding their agreement, GM killed nearly all advertising for both F-Body cars, canceled dealer programs and incentives, and slashed any model year updates.

It took only a couple short years to watch the Camaro’s numbers plummet. GM wasted little time in announcing the demise of the suddenly unpopular muscle car, effectively terminating the AUW agreement. It was only by sheer popular demand that Chevrolet decided to resurrect the Camaro, but without the Firebird, as the ‘bird’s return would rekindle the voided AUW contract.